Bloomberg estimates Xbox Live to be worth $1 billion+

Given the number of users and $50-a-year subscription fee, it's hardly a surprise that Microsoft is pulling in a ton of cash from Xbox Live, but it looks like the service has recently crossed a significant milestone: the $1 billion mark. That's what Bloomberg estimates for the past fiscal year, at least, based on the number of paid users (about 12.5 million), and a recent statement from Microsoft's Dennis Durkin, who said that sales of downloadable content had topped subscription revenue for the first time. That translates to about $600 million from subscription revenue, and at least $600 million from other sales, for a grand total somewhere north of $1.2 billion. Can't really blame Sony for following its lead, can you?

I stopped paying for Live a long time ago. Not worth the $60 bucks just to play online (Cross game chat is cool but not THAT cool). I hope Sony continues with PS+ while keeping the online available for others free of charge. It would suck having to pay money just to play online with the PS3 and the PS4.

True but its all about user experience and preference, on paper PSN Plus is a better deal but allot of people find the experience on Live much better.

I use both but spend 80% of my time on Live because I feel like it a more immerse experience - I know cross game chat and inviting people to parties might sound so little but it makes connecting with your friends so easy and feel like they are next to you.

Microsoft call the billion mark years ago. At the end of the day, Xbox Live will be looked at as the main reason the 360 had such an amazing run this gen.

Been a member since the original Xbox. Nothing against what other consoles offer, but IMO Live is the best console online experience as a whole out there. Playing without Live features IMO feels like going back in time.

Live is the home of the core 360 gaming community and it's those core gamers that arent the ones who spend their time online bashing it.

Micrsoft created a gaming Eco-system in Live and it's anyones guess on how they will proceed next gen, but Live will be one of the main reason millions of gamers will own 720s right out of the gate.

If it's worth a billion dollars I guess it will be around for next gen too :(

Then again, facebook was estimated to be worth some insane number and we saw what happened to it when it went public. But at least Live is selling a service... even if most of the features are free elsewhere.

(Please note: not trolling, just making an observation and commenting for the sake of discussion. I think it's a legitimate criticism as a paying gold member).

"Awww..is da wittle Dwagon so upset that he has no comeback that he has to resort to the PR rep stuff?

So is THAT why your so offended? You actually get paid to whine so much about MS that you think other need to be as well?

Dont worry your comment in response to what was my personal opinion is LIVING proof of what N4G is 'overrun' by..lol"

That was pathetic. I didn't even say anything negative about MS and you have to come to their defence. I think you've proven my point even more. What a sad reply you made. I guess MS doesn't pay people to be witty.

Cross game chat is the sole reason I would have live over psn. Me and my friends from high school have kept in touch after everyone went to college. We will all get in a party having 5-6 people. We even just get on and chat while we are watching a a big football game or basketball game.

'That was pathetic. I didn't even say anything negative about MS and you have to come to their defence. I think you've proven my point even more. What a sad reply you made. I guess MS doesn't pay people to be witty.'

LMAO @ this fankid in complete denial..once again you literally prove what this site is about..

If someone say I don't like Live then you got zero problems, but I give my opinion on why in my personal opinion I feel Live is better..what do you do?

OMG OMG you can't say that. You must work for MS as there in NOBODY on earth that can have that opinion.

'That was pathetic. I didn't even say anything negative about MS and you have to come to their defence. I think you've proven my point even more. What a sad reply you made. I guess MS doesn't pay people to be witty.'

LOL @ the goggles so dark that you can t read. Who said you attacked MS? Whose coming to their defence?

Here the quote since you could read it the first time..

'Dont worry your comment in response to what was my personal opinion is LIVING proof of what N4G is 'overrun' by..lol'

True then true now..and I love this guy talking about wit when all he can do is run up in MS articles and call people PR reps...oooooh so witty..lol..more like lame

Xbox Live was a brilliant strategy from the start, it helps recoup any losses that are brought on by new hardware. I've been an Xbox Live subscriber for 7 years now and I've never looked back. I've also never paid more than $35 for it in a year either, if you cant find a deal like that on Xbox Live, your not looking hard enough.

For me, Xbox Live is the Facebook of online services, its so social and easy to use. It definitely has its own personality and I feel like its safe to use. Consumer confidence is a very important part of business and Microsoft has built that with Xbox Live throughout the years.

All of the millions of people who use it, use it for a very good reason. One billion in Xbox Live revenue is a spicy meatball for sure. Congrats to Microsoft for putting together such a stellar service.

That is fine, my comment was made from my own point of view. In seven years there has not been a single time when I wanted to get online and play that I could not.

That says a lot about the service. I look at Xbox Live just like any other service really, you get what you pay for and its not like its a huge expense. I honestly pay more for haircuts throughout the year than Xbox Live. I just upped again for $35, that averages out to like $3 a month. My Gamefly, Netflix and Hulu Plus memberships cost far more than my Xbox Live membership does.

I'd also hold off on that "never pay to play online" spiel as well. Nintendo has already come out and said they might not always offer free online, Sony obviously wants a piece of that profit as well.

There are lots of other options aside from Xbox 360 gaming. Their is PS3, Steam, PC, Wii ect....

Nobody is forced, if the money was THAT big of a deal, people wouldn't get it. The price only seems to offend people here. I've never complained about it, it'd be like complaining about any other bill, there isn't really a point.

I'm a gamer and since its my hobby, I don't mind paying to have the best experience I can with it. I pay for PSN+ as well, its all about experiences.

*Edit* @raymantalk1 Microsoft does several sales a year themselves for $35. You can also find deals like that almost all the time on Amazon throughout the year. I usually wait until I see one and than pick it up. Sometimes Microsoft offers free games with it as well.

If you read the article, you'd know the half of the billion is made by sales of various things that are available through Xbox Live, the other half is through actual subscriptions.

I don't care about cutting into their profit, I get my XBL for as cheap as I can, I only said its a great setup and its well worth the money.

*Edit* @Jadedz

I remember Sega Net, but Microsoft had the idea to include a broadband adapter with every Xbox unit sold. They were the first console maker to do that, it helped pave the way for online services.

Its also very debatable as to what killed off Sega in the console market. Sony might have played partially into it, but Sega kind of lost their edge and lost a lot of consumer confidence by the time the Dreamcast came along.

If your preference is Halo, Gears and Forza, you are FORCED to pay to play the online parts of the game, and if you are already invested in Xbox, it makes matters worse. That in itself is pretty inexcusable, and I don't see how anyone can defend this. It doesn't cost Microsoft $60 per year for every consumer to simply play their games online. And they increased the point of entry of XBL by $10 a couple years back to justify their strategy of the inclusion of non-gaming features. That's awful! Even if you enjoy the features of XBL Gold it's still pretty awful to charge for basic online play rather than the features that count.

I'm glad those other options exist because they actually give you options.

how can MS be making money when they appear to spend more than 1.2 Billion a year in Advertising the xbox and giving away xbox/kinects all over the world and keep lowering the price all the time must be cutting into there profits or do you think it is free to advertise ?

What will people say about Xbox Live when PS4 has party chat for free? The most popular defense for Xbox live subscribers is that it has party chat. It's already free on the Vita and it won't change with the PS4.

They'll say that it's a better service that isn't tacked on and is well integrated. Just because it's free doesn't mean it's good. You can get Aids for free, does that make it good?

XBL pisses on PSN, plain and simple. It's a more reliable service that's actually part of the consoles experience. Sony can't charge for PSN because it's crap, that's why they have plus for you fools that think you're actually getting a good deal. How are they "free games" when you don't get to keep them? Not only that but if you own a PS3 and actually support it, you'll probabaly have most of those games, but as the sales charts show, you guys play CoD just as much. The only reason people cheer for PSN is because it's free, just wait until Sony makes it a pay service for everyone (they love money as well) but don't have the skills and tech to support it.

The Aids part was a load of toilet breed bs. Sorry, poor choice of wording on your part. I didn't know paid = instant quality.

How would it be tacked on when PS4 comes out exactly? It's been out for a while on PS3. Surely your common sense can tell you they've been working on improvements for the service, and properly implementing things for the next console. Oh right, because PSN maintenance are for Sony to sit down and read the daily mail? Yeah, XBL is well integrated. They ensure you get your daily dose of Marketing.

PSN does what gamers want it do. They can play online, for free, with their friends. If they wish to get a bit more, the optional paid route is there. I don't see what COD has to do with it. Since Sony have been pushing new IPS for a while now.

I wouldn't even bother to debate about Sony's ability to get skilled individuals. I'm not agreeing with Ryo either, since that has nothing to do with this article.

I really dont get how anyone can say that for playing games online, that one is better than the other, not even talking about costs here, just the experience. Both platforms are the same.

You go into a game, go on multiplayer mode, and it works, they work just as well as eachother which is basically flawlessly 99% of the time if you have a decent enough internet connection.

Ps3 versions of games also have game invites and stuff now so when your talking about playing games online with your friends, they are THE SAME, both are relatively lag free and Ive never noticed any real difference in lag or the community.

Personally I think the only people who go around saying things as extreme as you are have to be fanboys or something, because when you use and enjoy both services, its plain as day that for gaming, both work as well as eachother.

Only difference for me is that updates on XBL are faster, which admittedly is nice when you just want to get into a game on BF3.

If sony decides to charge next gen, I wont like it, but i'll understand considering how many people have been willing to pay for it (including me) on XBL.

Do i think i should be paying to play P2P games online (as in player hosted, no dedicated servers on most games), no. If it were all dedicated then id understand but its not.

But the price isnt that high and I can live with it, if its that much of an issue for people stop moaning about it online and invest in a gaming pc where the updates are frequent and the online gaming is free.